God Enjoyed

from The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions


Thou Incomprehensible
But prayer-hearing God,

Known, but beyond knowledge,
 revealed, but unrevealed,
 my wants and welfare draw me to thee, 
 for thou has never said, 'Seek ye me in vain'.

 To thee I come in my difficulties, necessities, 
 distresses; 
possess me with thyself,
 with a spirit of grace and supplication,
 with a prayerful attitude of mind,
 with access into warmth of fellowship,
so that in the ordinary concerns of life
 my thoughts and desires may rise to thee,
and in habitual devotion I may find a resource
 that will soothe my sorrows,
 sanctify my successes,
 and qualify me in all ways for dealings 
 with my fellow men.

I bless thee that thou hast made me capable 
 of knowing thee, the author of all being, 
 of resembling thee, the perfection of all excellency, 
 of enjoying thee, the source of all happiness.
O God, attend me in every part of my arduous 
 and trying pilgrimage;
I need the same counsel, defense, comfort
  I found at my beginning.
Let my religion be more obvious to my conscience, 
 more perceptible to those around. 

While Jesus is representing me in heaven, 
 may I reflect him on earth, 
While he pleads my cause, may I show forth 
 his praise.

Continue the gentleness of thy goodness towards me,
And whether I wake or sleep, let thy presence go with me,
 thy blessing attend me.

Thou hast led me on and I have found thy promises true, 
I have been sorrowful, but thou hast been my help, 
 fearful, but thou hast delivered me,
 despairing, but thou hast lifted me up. 

Thy vows are ever upon me,
 And I praise thee, O God.

 

winter adventure no. 3 {and final!}

I will keep this post short. I'm really just making a good effort at finishing something I started. I am done writing about winter.

 Here are a few pictures of our first skiing adventure with our boys.

It was a blast. T took more naturally to skis than snow shoes and now our boys are wrecked for sledding. "Can't we go skiing instead?"

Okay. Done with winter.


Spring has truly arrived. We thought it had come on Friday but then upon waking Sunday morning and pulling the curtains back only to find more snow!!, we realized winter wasn't done with us. I had gotten B and T up and we went together to their window to open the shades. We stood there completely dumbfounded at the white, unwelcome wonderland before us. And Bereket in his little voice, that is even littler in the morning, and even more littler when he's disappointed, whispers,

"I thought it was going to be grass today."

Today is grass. And sunny. And in the sixties. And lovely. Spring has come.